Since the start of the 20th century well over two hundred castles across Britain and Ireland that were formerly uninhabitable have been subject to renovation schemes. Some of them, especially in Ireland, have been carried out by corporate bodies, but most of the restorations have been undertaken by individuals or couples with dreams of inhabiting their own castle. Fifty of the buildings featured in this book were once roofless ruins and the others were formerly derelict. They are featured roughly in the chronological order in which work towards re-roofing them was first carried out. Some have been subjected to more than one campaign of work, and several were sold on to other would-be restorers before a renovation was completed or, in a few cases, even begun. Some of the stories focus on the lives of restorers and their successors and other stories concentrate mainly on what work was done, and how, by the restorers.
